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Lithium treatment and human hippocampal neurogenesis

Palmos, Alish B; Duarte, Rodrigo RR; Smeeth, Demelza M; Hedges, Erin C; Nixon, Douglas F; Thuret, Sandrine; Powell, Timothy R; (2021) Lithium treatment and human hippocampal neurogenesis. Translational Psychiatry , 11 (1) , Article 555. 10.1038/s41398-021-01695-y. Green open access

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Abstract

Lithium is a first-line treatment for bipolar disorder, where it acts as a mood-stabilizing agent. Although its precise mechanism remains unclear, neuroimaging studies have shown that lithium accumulates in the hippocampus and that chronic use amongst bipolar disorder patients is associated with larger hippocampal volumes. Here, we tested the chronic effects of low (0.75 mM) and high (2.25 mM) doses of lithium on human hippocampal progenitor cells and used immunocytochemistry to investigate the effects of lithium on cell parameters implicated in neurogenesis. Corresponding RNA-sequencing and gene-set enrichment analyses were used to evaluate whether genes affected by lithium in our model overlap with those regulating the volume of specific layers of the dentate gyrus. We observed that high-dose lithium treatment in human hippocampal progenitors increased the generation of neuroblasts (P ≤ 0.01), neurons (P ≤ 0.01), and glia (P ≤ 0.001), alongside the expression of genes, which regulate the volume of the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus. This study provides empirical support that adult hippocampal neurogenesis and gliogenesis are mechanisms that could contribute to the effects of lithium on human hippocampal volume.

Type: Article
Title: Lithium treatment and human hippocampal neurogenesis
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01695-y
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01695-y
Language: English
Additional information: © 2024 Springer Nature Limited. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Molecular neuroscience, Pharmacology, Stem cells
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine > MRC Unit for Lifelong Hlth and Ageing
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10196590
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